Flathead burble & rumpity rump... YEAH !!

Ok after all the friggin' dramas with the pinhole in #3, I got it sleeved, pressure checked and it turned out OK. Took it home and reassembled it, slung it back in the car and finally fired it up yesterday.

Lowsquire and the Psycho man turned up last nite for the fun and apart from a leak in the rear main (PITA) it runs real peachy, not too hot, plenty of oil pressure and sounds shit hot with that L100 cam barking thru twin pipes.

Broke in the cam and the remote oiling system seems to be working real well -I got 25 psi at 750 rpm and at 1800 rpm its 50 psi. This is with straight 30W oil, non synthetic for break in. Carb is a single 97 for break in too....once I get some miles on it I'll bolt on the PM7 with dual 97's and go from there.

On the initial fire up at 1800-2000 rpm temp got to 205 after 10 mins so I shut it down and let it cool. Some fiddling with the timing fired it again and ran it for another 15 mins at 1500 or so and the temp didnt go over 180 with the elec fan on. Also the temp gauge in the car was reading the same as the 2 gauges in the cyl heads and both sides of the engine are reading the same. So I let it kool overnite then retorqued the heads, fired it again to temp, shut it down, let it kool then retorqued the heads again. Followed this procedure two more times today and the head bolts seem to have taken a nice set and NO leaks.

After I was sure everything was fine, I let the sucker idle properly today and it sounds real, real good. NASTY the way a souped up flathead should!! And the throttle response is real good, no flat spots so I guess I rebuilt the carb ok.

Looks like Im gonna have to pull the pan (no biggie) to replace that shitty real mail seal...I get the feeling it got smoked out but I don't know why, it had enough assembly lube on it. Might be those shitty yellow, hard as a rock seals, might replace them with the graphite impregnated ones and see how we go. Im also gonna get rid of the POS Purolator regulator as it sucks ass at holding pressure properly. Might have to grab a Holley pressure reg.

Ill post some pix soon....

Rat

 

hey crew,

I was here with Lowsquire...this car looks and sounds killer! Will post some vids and pics tommorow...

Danny

 

I was just wondering the other day what the status was on your motor. Congratulations and good luck on finishing it up. One of your early versions of your car was an inspiration for me a number of years ago.

 

Well done mate. It sure is a good feeling the first time you hear that motor fire up.

I'm trying to figure out an excuse to head down to Melbourne for a cruise. Feature story maybe???

 

Awesome, Can't wait to see and hear her!

=]

CHeers

Maiki

 

How did I know Dan and Ben were involved as soon as I read "RUMPITY RUMP"??



Nice goin' anyway Frank.

 

Theres nothing like the sound of a flathead, post pics when you can.

 

Nice work Franky, can't wait to see drive.

I'll get back to you after next weekend bout the rego stuff.

 

Hey thanx for the feedback.

Brootal....feature? Dunno about that man....still need to finish the interior and a few other itmes to present to the dickhead....I mean, the engineer. Well done on the Rumbler, didya get that exhaust on?

JB...no sweat on the rego info....Id like to know how that all works so I can have a "plan B".

So, Im gonna try and pull the pan tonite and fix this stoopid leak, then button it all up again. Then its off to finish the upholstery....

Rat

 

Good to hear Frank, as for the rear main leak. Its a FLATHEAD! theys gonna leak no matter what . Its also known as a rust inhibitor for the underneath of the car......

 

Glad to hear you got it back together and is running good.

It sounds like you had to earn it. Good luck with the rest of
the build. That is a great looking car and you have done some
great work on it. thanks for sharing with everyone.

 

Hey Frank, Really glad ya finally got it back together and running! I've been wondering how it was going. Now that Danny's heard it run, I'll bet he's got his L100 ordered by now!

Like DR said, it isn't too uncommon to have a wee bit of oil out the back seal to lube the bottom side!! HA Seeing everything you've done up till now, I'd say when you're done on yours, it'll be minimal.

Good luck wrapping things up,

 

Hey mate,

Yeah the L100 sounds good... nice little rump at idle and a bit of a bark fromt he pipes... Frank still has that Potvin Eliminator 425 in the shed though....

Danny

 

I forgot Frank had that Potvin.........decisions, decisions, decisions!

 

Hey Mate,

running that cam would mean flycutting my heads at a minimum (Offy 400's) and im wondering if its just too big a cam for my almost stock displacement engine. still, its in a feather weight AV8

Danny

 

I'd try the potvin with a light flywheel..........I think you'd like it as you know you have a hot rod and not a street rod. After I got mine done and seen how streetable it is, I wish I'd put a light wheel in it. That's a whole nuther sound that goes with the light wheel!

 

Hey Mate,

I didnt think you were running a Potvin? I think I'm confused and need a coffee! Chopping the flywheel is one thing I'd really like to do if I ever take the motor out of the ride.

Found out my rear gears are infact 3.6:1 not the 4.11 I thought they were. To tall for a cam like that?

Danny

 

What rear end are you running, as 3.6 is not an early ford ratio?

Congrats Frank, there's nothing like the sound of an early mill in a Hot Rod, I can't wait til I get to do the same.

 

Hey Mate,

I was told it was a Ford Freighter diff, which is like an early F1 style truck, and that it was running 4.11's. The way we tested was LowSquire held one wheel solid, and I tured the other wheel two complete revolutions and counted the number of times the tail shaft rotated which turned out to be 3.6 approx. I knew the guy had the diff in the shop getting repaired before I bought the car...maybe the centre was swapped out then?

Sound right or was the two pack fumes getting to us?

Danny

 

Boy, you guys don't mess around. Seems like just a few weeks ago you were going through the initial hassles.
Great work!
Glad to hear you got it running. Just like a new daddy.
I wish we could hear it!

 

I love hearing "Can I hear it run?". Betcha can't wait to make someone's day just by firing it up. Congrats!

 

You're right, I'm running a 400jr in my AV8 and love it. My dad ran a Potvin in a flatty, oval racing in the 50s. It was a track grind but I don't know what. He was also running an aluminum flywheel. With that wheel it sounded so bad when you blipped the throttle from idle, it was at 3 grand in an instant......and when you shut it off it just flat stopped, which was a product of high compression and lower rotating mass.

I've never heard of a 3.6 but at the tallest 3.78 like I have I wouldn't be afraid to try it.........especially if Frank just loans it to ya to find out!

 

3.54 was an early Ford ratio...

 

Oh yeah, my memory is going.........and I've been wanting a 3.54 HA
Thanks,

 

hey mate,

yeah Rats motor sounds the same with the chopped steel flywheel. just blips up to 3k and back again in a second. oh boy i feel my bank account about to get molested...

danny

 

Kinda makes u wanna go and build another engine huh Psycho ?

Rat

 

hey Rat!

Oh man, how I would love to build another engine but I know my back pocket isnt deep enough for a full rebuild. And I know its def not deep enough to fix the crap that will break on mine with a tougher motor. I'm going to be happy with just my dizzy and duals I think!!!!

Danny

 

Congratulations! You stuck in there and got it working.

My newly rebuilt motor died due to a catastrophic oil line pop off, as you know. I get the motor back in a couple weeks, so I'll be able to do initial fire up for the 2nd time in a year. Dunno if that's good or bad.

Mike

 

hey man,

thats a good thing... like loosing your virginity twice!!!

danny

 

Hey Baron what exactly happened with your mill ?

Rat